School proximity and child labour: evidence from rural Tanzania

This paper uses micro data from the 2000/01 Tanzanian Household Budget Survey to study the effect of distance to school on school enrollment and work decisions of rural children. A simple theoretical model illustrates that school proximity creates an incentive for children to combine work with school. While this unequivocally raises school attendance, it does not necessarily lead to a fall in child labor. Indeed, the reverse might be true. Consistent with the predictions of the model, the empirical analysis shows that a rise in distance to school is associated to a fall in the proportion of children combining work with school and an approximately equal rise in the proportion of full-time workers. Overall school attendance falls, with no effect on children's employment rate.